WiiSPACE

WiiSPACE is an original retro-themed spaceship shoot-'em-up supporting up to 4 simultaneous players for co-operative play. Features include powerups, bosses, high scores, and an aiming system allowing independent movement and targeting.

Version 1.2a was released on 13 July 2009. You can download it via the link on the right, or the homebrew browser. Note: 1.2a is a very small update, and if you have 1.2 I don't think the homebrew browser realises that it's outdated. If you delete and then re-download, though, you'll have the latest version (and your saved data will be okay).

Update: three years after the original release, there's now an upgraded PC and linux port. I'd do a Wii release of the new version but I don't have a Wii any more, sorry :(

Online high score table

When you exit the game, you'll be asked if you want to upload your high scores. If you choose yes, the game will send your scores to the online database found at the above link. The highest 64 scores for each team size are saved. However, only scores which were achieved in version 1.2 or later will be sent.

Controls

Action

or or

or or

Start, pause

Menu navigation

,

,

,

Menu accept, menu cancel

or

Control spaceship

Control targeting crosshair

or

or

Fire

or

or

or

Use bomb

Help

Getting started

On the main menu screen, you can choose the number of players, start the game, or quit. The bottom section of the screen will change to show you the high scores for the currently selected number of players. When you first start the game, you'll see a dialog showing you which controllers are connected to each player slot. Once the game has started, you can pause and quit to the menu at any time.

Gameplay

Each player controls a spaceship of a different colour. Try to defeat each wave of enemies. Once you do (or if you take too long), the next wave will appear. Destroying multiple enemies without dying will increase your score multiplier, but you'll lose it if you're destroyed. Every so often you'll encounter a boss enemy, requiring a unique strategy to defeat.

The aiming system might take a little while to get used to. You control your spaceship and your targeting cursor independently, so you can fire in any direction regardless of where you're going. With the Wiimote, your bullets will fire towards wherever you point on the screen. With the Gamecube controller, you'll need to use the C-stick.

Try to get a high score!

Powerups

Powerups appear every so often. Fly near them to collect them. They don't disappear if you don't pick them up, so you can avoid grabbing them until the best moment. However, if there's already 4 or more powerups flying around, you won't get any new ones.

Extra life

Represented by a white triangle inside the powerup.

Gives your team another life. Lives are shared between the whole team. If your team runs out of lives and your spaceship is destroyed, you'll need to wait for another player to collect an extra life powerup before you can respawn. The player who has been out the longest will be the first to respawn. When you respawn, you'll be invulnerable for a moment.

If the whole team is destroyed and you're out of lives, the game is over.

Magic shots

Represented by a small white dot inside the powerup.

With this powerup, your shots don't disappear when they hit enemies, so they cause more damage and travel through to hit enemies behind. You get a set number of magic shots, so don't worry about the time running out.

Bomb

Represented by an explosion icon inside the powerup.

When you have a bomb, it's carried on your ship until you use it. When you trigger the bomb, it'll destroy all nearby enemies (and damage bosses). Careful! It'll also destroy nearby powerups. Enemies destroyed in this way don't count towards your score, but do increase your score multiplier.

Shield

Represented by a powerup with a thick border.

If you get hit by an enemy when you have a shield, you'll lose it and become invulnerable for a moment instead of dying. You can't have a bomb and a shield at the same time, or more than one bomb or shield - the new powerup will overwrite the old one.

Enemies

Enemies appear at the top and bottom edges of the screen, so it's best to keep a safe distance from these areas. Watch out! Some enemies have special abilities. Learning each enemy's behaviour will help you, but you'll need quick reflexes too.

There are several bosses to discover. Can you defeat them all?

Configuration file

WiiSPACE saves a configuration file on the root of your SD card. If you open wiispace.txt, you can make one or two changes:

If you don't like the stars flying past in the background, changing the number beside DisableBackground to 1 will turn them off.

If the HUD elements (lines of text showing player score, remaining lives, etc) are off the screen due to your TV's overscan, increase the number beside HUDCorrection to 1 or 2 to shift them closer to the center of the screen.